Tesla is redesigning its door handles following security probe, Bloomberg investigation

Tesla is “engaged on” redesigning its door handles so they’re much less prone to lure individuals inside the corporate’s automobiles, chief designer Franz von Holzhausen told Bloomberg News on Wednesday.

The information comes simply someday after the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) opened an probe into Tesla’s door handles, and one week after a Bloomberg Information investigation highlighted a number of cases the place homeowners or passengers have been caught of their automobiles following a crash.

Von Holzhausen didn’t specify when Tesla made the choice to rethink how its door handles work, in keeping with Bloomberg. China has already been pushing automakers to rethink the usage of absolutely hid door handles due to security issues, though the nation’s high regulator has not taken a closing motion.

One of many two obvious issues with Tesla’s door handles has been they use digital locks, which may cease working in the event that they aren’t receiving energy from the automotive’s battery system. The opposite is that, whereas Tesla does have guide door releases constructed into its automobiles, they’re typically exhausting to seek out and tough to entry.

“The concept of mixing the digital one and the guide one collectively into one button, I believe, makes quite a lot of sense,” von Holzhausen advised Bloomberg. “That’s one thing that we’re engaged on.”

NHTSA opened its investigation on Tuesday after the company stated it had obtained 9 complaints from Tesla homeowners who skilled a failure with their door handles. In 4 of these instances, the security company stated the homeowners needed to break a window “to regain entry into the car.”

Tesla contains directions in its proprietor’s manuals that describe use an out of doors energy supply to activate lifeless digital door locks, as each NHTSA and Bloomberg have famous. However NHTSA famous in its preliminary report that not one of the homeowners who contacted the company reported seeing low-voltage battery warnings — that means they probably wouldn’t have identified what was responsible for the issue.